Slow Dance
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: [Operation Overdrive] Mack needed a favor, so Rose helped him out. She wasn't expecting it to lead to a kiss, but life was funny like that. MackxRose


**Slow Dance**

"Hey Rose," Mack greeted, plopping down on the couch next to her. Ronny, Will, and Dax snickered at the red ranger.

"What, we're not worth saying hello to?" asked Will, earning another laugh from his yellow and blue counterparts.

Mack ignored this, focusing on the pink ranger. By now he was really wishing he'd asked for the favor in private, but it was too late for that. "Um, Rose, are you doing anything on Saturday night?"

Will and Ronny exchanged a smirk. Rose threw a glare towards them and then looked back at Mack. She raised her eyebrow. "No…I don't think so…why?"

Mack's face turned the color of his red T-shirt. "My dad is dragging me to this fundraiser and I kinda need a date. I just thought, or maybe hoped, that you would do me this one huge favor and go with me." He dared to look hopeful and Rose felt sympathetic.

"What couldn't get one of your dad's business partners' daughters to go with you?" Dax teased.

"Shut up, Dax," Rose snapped. "Sure Mack, I'll go with you."

"Really?"

"Yes," she replied. "It's just one night, right?"

Mack grinned. "I owe you big time. How does my first born child sound?"

Rose laughed. "Really, it's all right. You would do the same for me," she said softly. "And don't tell me you wouldn't."

"Well, thanks Rose." Mack got up off the couch and headed for the lounge's exit, the quirky smile still cemented on his face. Will and Ronny chuckled.

"Shut up, you imbeciles," hissed Rose. "He was nervous enough as it was and you shouldn't have poked fun at him." The pink ranger narrowed her brown eyes at the other three and stormed out of the room.

--

Mack waited for Rose at the bottom of the staircase, secretly hoping that she would suddenly think of some way to get him out of the stupid dinner with a bunch of other rich snobs. At least with Rose there he'd have someone fun to talk to.

And then Rose appeared at the top of the staircase. She was wearing a satin dress in the lightest shade of pink, off the shoulders and barely hitting her knees. She paired this with a pair of black stilettos and her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a bun.

"Wow," breathed Mack. "You look great, Rose."

"Thank you," she said, and sent a tiny smile his way. "Are we ready to go?"

"Dad says he's on his way down, and then we can go."

"Actually," Spencer said from behind the two rangers, "Master Hartford says he is experiencing a 'wardrobe malfunction,' and that you two are to go on without him."

"In that case, off to the garage," Mack announced, offering Rose his elbow. She took it, wondering what had possessed her to go to this dinner with Mack. But, she decided on the way to the garage as she ignored Ronny's snickering about lovebirds, Mack didn't look half bad in a tuxedo.

"Please tell me we're not taking a limo or something," Rose said with a hint of a groan in her voice.

"Of course not. We're taking my car," Mack replied, pointing at the little red sports car in one corner. "Limos are hardly what they're cracked up to be."

He opened the door for her, a perfect gentleman. "My lady," he joked, earning himself another smile. He went around to the driver's side and put the key in the ignition, the engine purring to life smoothly.

The drive was quiet. Mack felt a little awkward at having Rose so dressed up and being all alone with her. He tried to tell himself it really wasn't all that different from all the times they had been in the Overdrive Jeep on their way to a battle, other than the fact that the fate of the world wasn't in their hands tonight.

"You really didn't have to do this for me, Rose," Mack said, mostly for conversation. "It's going to be extremely dull."

"I'm sure I'll live."

"Oh I doubt that," Mack said. "You'd never be able to fund a more boring group of people, not even if you tried," he continued, but he said it with a grin on his face.

"Poor little rich boy," teased Rose. Then she got a look at the hotel the fundraiser dinner was taking place in. "And I thought your house was big." She looked very nervous, something Mack couldn't recall seeing her be before.

"You'll be fine, Rose. I promise. Bored to tears, but they'll adore you."

He got out and went to her side of the car. He opened to door for her again and then handed his keys valet.

"Come on, Rose, smile," Mack said with that lighthearted tone in his voice. The pink ranger did as she was told, taking Mack's elbow again. "I'll never ask you to come to one of these things again. It's a one time thing. No one deserves this kind of torture, favor or not."

"God there's a lot of people here," Rose murmured as they entered the hotel ballroom. There were a lot of people, especially the business partners' daughters Dax had mentioned. Rose felt a stab of pride at being the one who was there with Mack.

"Come on. We'll get something to drink," muttered Mack, steering her towards one of the waiters. "Don't worry, it's just cider for the under twenty-one crowd. These guys are way too uptight to break a few rules," he added after seeing the look on Rose's face.

He took two flutes of cider and handed one to Rose. "Cheers," he muttered dryly, clinking his glass against hers. "Oh damn."

Rose turned to see what he was talking about and came face to face with an attractive blond girl who definitely belonged to the upper class.

"Mackenzie darling!" cried the blond girl. "How have you been?" Rose noted that the girl talked with an extremely fake British accent.

Mack winced. "Fine, thanks," he answered, trying not to look at her. Rose scooted herself a bit closer to him.

"Who is your…friend?"

"Actually, I'm his girlfriend," said Rose before she fully realized what was coming out of her mouth. "And the name's Rose."

The blond girl's eyes narrowed and she stalked off. Mack chuckled as soon as she was out of earshot. "That," he declared to Rose, "Was the bravest thing I have ever seen anyone do. Never mind saving the world on a daily basis. I think I now owe you my first _two_ children."

Rose managed to smile. "Well…I didn't like the way she looked at you, like she was very hungry and you were a buffet."

"Interesting analogy, but it fits her," commented Mack. "She's been chasing after me as long as I can remember. She gets it from her mother." He was quiet for a moment, and when he glanced back at Rose she was glaring off in the direction of the blond princess. "You're jealous."

It wasn't a question.

Rose was saved from replying to this by Andrew Hartford's appearance. "Well don't you two look nice. The dinner's about to start," he added. "Our seats are about halfway down the table, which is a good thing because that's where the best food is." Andrew started making a beeline towards the huge dining table along one wall.

"I swear to God, as soon as I'm in charge of the company I will never go to another one of these stupid dinners again," muttered the red ranger to his pink counterpart. She smiled slightly, and then she saw Blond Princess looking at them. Rose found Mack's free hand and laced her fingers through his, giving a jerk of her head towards Blond Princess as an explanation. The fact that she was secretly enjoying holdings Mack's hand had nothing to do with it.

Right.  
Thankfully, Andrew was immediately engaged in conversation by some business associates, leaving Rose and Mack to their own devices. This pleased both of them, and they spent their meal completely at ease with each other, making each other laugh. Rose was pleased to see that Blond Princess, whose name Mack told her was Mindy, glared in their direction more than once. _"Ha," _Rose thought triumphantly, _"I win."_

She knew she shouldn't have felt that way. Mack had only asked her to come along as a favor, most likely to escape Mindy. It didn't mean he had a crush on her; it meant that he just thought of her as someone he could have fun with, a buddy. No one too special, just a friend.  
Rose hated this. She wanted more. She just didn't know how to tell him, and to be honest with herself she was too afraid.

So when Mack stood up after dinner and offered his hand for a dance, Rose was surprised. Then she remembered Blond Princess was watching and so she accepted.

He watched her with a smile on his face. "You really don't like her, do you? Can't say I blame you though. She's conniving and a gold digger to boot."

"So you never dated her?" Rose questioned, and Mack noted the jealousy in her tone. He chuckled.

"Rosie, does that seem like the kind of girl I would date?" She shook her head and leaned in closer to him, inhaling his clean boy scent, completely content. This was heaven. "Rose," he said softly, and he let go of one of her hands and tilted her chin up towards him. Very gently he pressed his lips to hers.

He wasn't expecting her to pull away from him and turn. Rose made her way through the crowd as fast as she could. Mack knew better than to go after her right now when she was obviously so upset, and he resumed his seat at the table. Andrew was one of the few left sitting.

"Where'd Rose go?"

Mack shrugged. "I ruined everything, Dad. I don't blame her for running off."

"Running off? What happened? You two looked pretty cozy."

The red ranger sighed. "Mindy was skulking around, and then Rose told her that she was my girlfriend-"

"Is she?" Andrew asked curiously, but Mack ignored his father's question.

"I kissed Rose, Dad. She got all weird and she left, probably to get some air or something."

"I see." Andrew thought for a moment. "Go find her. Talk to Rose. Figure things out."

Mack knew that his dad was only trying to help out. And he took his father's advice, nodding his thanks. Mack sighed again and exited the hotel's ballroom.

He found Rose sitting out in the hotel's garden, perched on top of a stone bench. She looked up at the stars wistfully, and then back at him.

"I'm sorry," she told Mack softly. "I didn't mean to freak out on you. It was just a kiss. A very nice kiss, actually."

"Yeah," Mack agreed. "But it was to make 'us' look real. I mean, what you said to Mindy-"

"I know what I said, Mack, and I knew that was all the kiss was for. I think I just overreacted, and I shouldn't have."

"I shouldn't have kissed you," Mack countered. "I was the one who made everything all weird." He was quiet for a few moments. "I think we should just forget about it. It makes things normal again."

Rose nodded. "Definitely. What kiss?" she joked weakly, a feeble smile on her face. And the pink ranger fell silent again, wistful once more.

"Rosie?"

Rose heaved an enormous sigh. "Can I tell you something? It's hard for me, Mack, so please…just listen.

"There's a part of me that wanted it to be more. There's a part of me that wishes we could be together. I like you, Mack. I really_, really _like you."

Mack nodded. "Well, that's good Rose, because I feel the same way. But right now…everything is crazy, not to mention dangerous. I just don't think right now would be the best time to start something between us. And with you…I'd definitely need to take the time to have something worth having, not just a spur of the moment 'let's go out' kind of thing. With you I'd want everything to be special."

This was easily the most serious tone Rose had ever heard Mack use, and she knew he was sincere. "I understand Mack. Really I do." She let a sly sort of smile cross her face. "Doesn't mean we can't go rub Mindy's face in it."


End file.
